Ball Girl #72: Baseball players are the new screenagers

We thought this went without saying but guess not! Players probably shouldn't carry their phones on them DURING the game. We get it- you never know when bae might be sending that racy snapchat, or the SO of your dreams might be sliding into your dms.....but if you're sliding into first base (cough cough, Rodolfo Castro) you might wanna have bestie on the sideline hold the phone. 

Can I have your number?

90: Serena Williams’s place on Forbes’ list of America’s richest self-made women. Williams has an estimated net worth of $260 million and is one of only two athletes on the list (Maria Sharapova holds the other spot at 97th).

TLDRs

⚾ The Brewers got their mojo back, the Orioles flew higher than the Blue Jays, and the Giants and the Padres traded games. Read on for more.

🏈 We’d like to sincerely apologize to NYC football fans because the Jets are now looking like your best hope: the NY Giants broke out into an ugly intersquad fight on Monday. Read on for more.

⛳️ The PGA post-season starts this coming weekend with the FedEx St. Jude Championship (also known as The Northern Trust). Read on for more.

🎾 Serena Williams announces her retirement from tennis, stating that the US Open, starting at the end of August, will be her final tournament. Read on for more.

🏀 Kevin Durant further torments Nets fans, publicly calling Joe Tsai (Brooklyn Nets Governor- yup, this is a thing lol) to trade him immediately or fire Steve Nash (Head Coach) AND Sean Marks (General Manager). Read on for more.

🏁 Daniel Ricciardo is willing to leave McLaren and leave early — that is, if they’ll cough up $21M. Yea, with that paycheck I’d go into early retirement, too. But Danny boy is looking to continue his career in F1 with this check under his racesuit and an additional one from a new sugar daddy team.

MLB

3 big series across the world of baseball as we inch closer to playoffs

• Milwaukee Brewers (1) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (0) — The Brewers have been on a losing streak, but they must have gone back in time and restored their mojo because they looked great against the Rays last night. Tyrone Taylor has some serious bunnies (read: he can jump high) — he made a homerun-robbing catch, and Freddy Peralta pitched a solid 5 innings to secure an electric win.

• Baltimore Orioles (2) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (0) — This series is for the birds. Just kidding, that was a bad joke and last night was a good game. The Orioles surprised everyone and won their second straight against the Blue Jays, who are a really good team but have been flopping lately. The Orioles have been on a surge and inch closer to a wild card playoff spot with last night’s win.

• San Fran Giants (1) vs. San Diego Padres (1) — The Giants are so far behind the Padres in the NL West that this series doesn’t matter all too much, except the Giants won on Monday in epic fashion: Joey Bart (catcher) made a sick play in the 7th inning for the save (see below). The Padres evened things up last night, though, and Juan Soto both made a great catch and “Soto Smash”ed his first homer for his new team.

NFL

Bar is now the floor for the Giants this season

The summer heat must be getting to the NY Giants (or maybe its the CTE?) because a massive fight broke out amongst players and even a coach on Monday.

• It all started when Saquon Barkley (runningback) absolutely trucked Aaron Robinson (cornerback), which set off the Giant’s defense. All of a sudden, everyone was pushing, and offensive line coach Bobby Johnson even got in the mix.

• And this isn’t even the first fight that’s happened — Daniel Jones (QB) ended up at the bottom of a dogpile last week after another tussle broke out.

• The silver lining is that Saquon Barkley is looking 🔥. Let’s hope the rest of the Giant’s squad can channel their anger, I guess?

Golf

FedEx Cup Playoffs kick off this weekend with the St. Jude Championship

• The FedEx Cup Playoffs is essentially the PGA Tour post-season. It consists of a couple tournaments and feature the top 125 players from the regular PGA season. In case you’re wondering, yes, Rickie Fowler made the cut (by the grace of god), coming in at the #125 spot.

• The other tournaments in the playoffs include the BMW Championship (Aug 18-21) and the Tour Championship (Aug 25-28).

3 LIV players not allowed back onto the Tour for Playoffs

• Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones want to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But, they’ve signed on with competitor LIV Golf and therefore are suspended from play on the PGA Tour.

• Federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman denied their request to participate (yes, a federal judge is now involved in the PGA/LIV drama), however, their case is part of a bigger effort by 11 LIV golfers and is still ongoing.

Tennis

Serena calls it quits (we think)

• The winner of 23 grand slam titles and undoubtably one of the greatest athletes of all time, Serena Williams, has officially announced that she’s decided to hang up her racket. But her words are rather wishy washy, leaving that so-called retirement a bit open-ended.

• In a column for Vogue, Williams said “I have never liked the word retirement…Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.” Williams says that she will turn to focus on expanding her family as well as her other ventures (pun intended) including Serena Ventures, her venture capital firm. The US Open (starting August 29) will be Williams’ final tournament.

NBA

Hold up — if you’re asking for ransom, aren’t you supposed to have kidnapped someone important???

• IDK that’s just what I’ve seen in EVERY thriller movie ever, but Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets) is out here throwing out the rules and making demands like Dr. Evil. But instead of asking for — 1 MILLION DOLLARS raise pinky here — he’s insisting that Joe Tsai fire head coach Steve Nash AND general manager Sean Marks.

• Joe Tsai is not a man that can be threatened, it seems, as he released the below tweet on Monday. With Nash and Marks most likely staying in place, KD is going to demand a trade, but here’s the thing. He’s got a contract. So unless a team makes the Nets a worthy offer, KD’s gonna have to play for Brooklyn in the upcoming season. Is he sportsmanlike enough to give it his all if push comes to shove, or will he literally REFUSE to play (well) should that be the outcome?

Must Watches This Week: 

Wednesday, August 10th

• 2:00pm ET, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Milwaukee Brewers, MLB

• 4:00pm ET, NY Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners, MLB